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LIGHT 



IN THE 



Shadows of the Valley 



BY 
CHESTER FAIRMAN RALSTON 

Warburton Avenue Baptist Church 
YONKERS. N. Y. 



Published by Salem D. Towne 
Bonton, Mas*, 






* 



Copyrighted 1 909 

Salem D. Towne 

Boston, Mass. 



l CI.A25 



TO THOSE WHO MOURN 

THIS LITTLE BOOK IS DEDICATED 

WITH LOVING SYMPATHY 



Light in the Shadows 
of the Valley 

None can pass into the midnight darkness 
of the valley, where sorrow whelms the soul and 
come forth unchanged. The valley of sorrow 
is a crucible. It is also a school where lessons 
are to be learned. Those who enter become 
pupils in sorrow's school ; and the attitude and 
aptitude of the pupil will determine the value 
and meaning of the lessons. 

And the teacher in this school? Only He can 
sit as Teacher who was a Man of Sorrows and 
acquainted with grief. Not only is Jesus our 
teacher, but those who enter the valley of sorrow 
have been assured that He will be with them to 
comfort, to strengthen, to deliver and to bless. 

And the lessons to be learned ? These les- 
sons may not always be the same for all who be- 
come pupils in this school. I do not presume in 



LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS 



what follows that I speak of the universal lessons 
to be learned by those who know the shadows 
which o'erhang the valley of sorrow. Never- 
theless, I speak not as a theorist. In these few 
lines in which I seek to offer comfort and help to 
those who mourn, God knows I speak not in 
mere platitudes. To the reader I want only to 
open a bruised heart, and to mention in simple 
and unpretentious words what lessons came to 
my own life in the days when the midnight 
darkness of the valley dazed and blinded and 
whelmed my soul ; in a day when the tenderest 
lamb of my own little flock was taken from our 
arms and borne away to the bosom of the Heav- 
enly Shepherd. These have been the hardest 
lessons of life. They have been lessons from 
Gethsemane's garden; and I mention them pub- 
licly with the one hope that they may prove a 
tender, precious ministry of comfort and healing. 
If the personal element seems at times to obtrude 
unduly it will be understood that the writer is 
talking out of his own heart and therefore must 
speak in the first person. 



OF THE VALLEY 



I realized as not before the frailty and fu- 
tility of human knowledge and power in the ex- 
treme experiences of life. As we look about us 
and behold the marvelous and ever-increasing 
accomplishments of man, we are almost ready to 
pronounce him the inheritor of Divine possibili- 
ties. There seems no limit to his ability to know 
and to do. Everywhere and every day man 
seems to be doing the impossible, surmounting 
the insurmountable, conquering the unconquer- 
able. Human knowledge and power appear, at 
times, to have passed finite bounds. 

And yet when we come to the supreme 
test, the preservation of a life, a life tender, sweet, 
pure, a life strong, virile, promising, a life noble, 
consecrated, fruitful, and for whose preservation 
love, money, sacrifice, even blood, would be 
poured without measure ; human knowledge and 
power, as manifested in their most skilful expo- 
nents ; stand in silent weakness confessing utter 
helplessness. In a week, in a day, in an hour 
human ability reaches its utmost limit, and we 
fall back broken, awed, helpless. At a glance 



LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS 



we see the whole boundary of the finite, that 
boundary which ofttimes seems to have no hori- 
zon. Then do our human limitations bound us 
round like mountains bleak and cold. And the 
Infinite, how far-reaching, how immeasurable it 
appears! How we long to bring our dazed 
and darkened minds into the light and life of the 
Father of all wisdom ! How we yearn to have 
God come in unto us with his wisdom and light, 
and just teach and empower and do for us what 
we cannot do for ourselves ! How we realize 
the absolute necessity of a close and constant 
dependence of our frail, human lives upon the 
Infinite Father ! In this hour, when we realize 
the futility and frailty of human power and 
knowledge, we lift up our hearts for the touch of 
the wisdom and power that are Divine. 

The ultimate worthlessness and insecurity 
of earth's possessions is another lesson that em- 
phasized itself. The words of Jesus in the ser- 
mon on the mount proclaim a new sound in our 
ears, a new meaning in our hearts. We begin 
to understand the lesson in the "grass of the field 



OF THE VALLEY 



which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the 
oven". Meaningful indeed are Christ's words, 
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth 
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where 
thieves break through and steal, but lay up for 
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither 
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves 
cannot break through and steal". 

In that hour when the angel of death visits 
unbidden the home circle, and with little warning 
and against our strongest defense carries away 
our loved one, of what value are all the treas- 
ures and possessions of earth ; if we have not 
sought first the Kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness ? In that hour what are all this world's 
goods to me, if I have not faith and hope and 
love, and above all, Jesus Christ ? The invest- 
ments I have made in Christ, through faith, now 
return unto me a thousandfold, while no invest- 
ment I may have in this world's wealth can re- 
turn unto me the first comfort, or help, or hope. 
In that hour when my soul tasted its bitterest ex- 
perience, cried out in its deepest agony, sensed 



10 LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS 



its greatest weakness and craved with unutterable 
anguish a help from somewhere, from someone, 
what did the world have to offer ? Well, one 
may not be assured of all the world has to offer, 
but one thing with me was certain, all that the 
world did offer appeared as vanity. And I real- 
ized also that whatever the world might offer 
was unreliable and insecure, feeling it might be 
taken away in the next hour, just as the loved 
one had been snatched away in the present hour. 
We find a new value and comfort in those words 
of Paul, "Look not upon the things which are 
seen, but upon the things which are not seen, for 
the things which are seen are temporal ; but the 
things which are not seen are eternal". We 
come to appreciate the values and the treasures 
which are laid up in heaven against the rust, the 
moth and the thief. In the valley of sorrow 
these treasures in heaven are unspeakably pre- 
cious. Naught is so full of comfort in the day 
by the river when the loved one of our bosom 
slips from our arms into the arms of the blessed 
Savior. 



OF THE VALLEY 1 1 



I learned also the lesson that in earth's ex- 
periences there lurks a seed of sorrow in every 
joy. When two lives stand at the marriage altar 
and plight a mutual troth a new and gracious joy 
is kindled. When into that newly established 
home a welcome little one comes another and 
sweeter joy abounds. But in each of these ex- 
periences of joy a seed of sorrow lies. The seed 
may be hidden, to be sure, but conditions will 
arise under which the seed will germinate and 
in its fruitage turn our deepest joy into a yet 
deeper sorrow. The coming of the angel of love 
at the marriage altar, and of the angel of life in- 
to the birth-chamber make possible the coming 
of the angel of death and sorrow into that same 
home circle. This is one of the many instances 
in which the experience of joy carries with it the 
seed of a probable sorrow. And so frequently 
does this occur that we may pronounce it a law 
in our lives. This may be called the dark side 
of joy, or, may I say, it constitutes the price of 
our joy. 

However, there came into my life another 



12 LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS 

and kindred thought. It is this. As every joy 
contains the seed of a probable sorrow, so the 
sorrow of the valley contains the seed of a joy 
sweeter and more precious than any yet known. 
But this is true only for those of the household of 
faith, for those whose hope is in Christ. 
Through Jesus and his resurrection there comes 
to us the assurance that the night of sorrow will 
be followed with the morning of joy. "Sorrow 
continueth through the night, but joy cometh in 
the morning." The believer in Christ looks for- 
ward to the dawning of that morning in which 
the seed of joy shall come to its fruition ; when 
the morning light shall usher in a day upon which 
the shadows of evening darkness shall never fall. 
Then it may be we will be "very glad that for a 
little while we were so sad". 

The consciousness of God's almighty and 
everlasting arms bearing and sustaining me was 
probably the most precious lesson learned in the 
school of sorrow. Unseen arms are they ; but 
how wondrously real ! Often had I spoken to 
friends in sorrow of God's sustaining comfort 



OF THE VALLEY 13 

and grace, and in my weak ministry I believed 
the words I uttered. But I never KNEW the 
truth of that promise until I felt the loving arms 
of the Father bearing and sustaining my own life 
bruised and broken. Then did I learn that the 
Savior made it possible for me to bear what I 
had always felt I could never endure. "When 
thou passest through the waters I will be with 
thee" was a promise that found wonderful fulfill- 
ment. And I am convinced that this is a prom- 
ise the Lord Jehovah will consciously fulfill unto 
any and all who rest their trust in Him. God 
does become a real helper, and his arms become 
as real and precious as the arms of a mother to 
her grief-stricken child. Dear friend, in thy sor- 
row, take God at his word, give him his oppor- 
tunity, and he will prove his faithfulness unto 
you. He will not disappoint you. The unseen 
Father never became so consciously and truly a 
loving heavenly Father as in the valley of my 
deepest sorrow. 

Another truth that came home to me with 
new force, if not for the first time, was this : it 



14 LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS 

requires an infinite experience to understand the 
infinite heart and love of our Heavenly Father. 
The saying that experience is our best teacher is 
never too old to repeat. And it is likewise true 
that experience teaches most to him who also 
suffers most. So universally true is this that one 
may well say, to learn is to suffer. The choicest 
pearls are found only in the deepest waters. 
The prodigal never appreciated the wonderful 
love of his father's heart until, through the hero- 
ism of repentance, he came back from the swine- 
herd. He may have believed in his father's 
goodness when he divided unto him his own liv- 
ing, but not until in rags and hunger, his sin and 
shame burning out his very life, he came home 
to a forgiving father, did he know the fullness of 
his father's love. Mary and Martha knew Jesus 
loved them else they would not have sent mes- 
sengers to him announcing the sickness of Laza- 
rus, but they only sensed the greatness of that 
love and the sympathy of their Master when he 
gave back unto them the mourned brother. It 
was in the infinite experience of sorrow that the 



OF THE VALLEY 15 

fullness of love became known. If the heart be 
tender toward the Divine Spirit in the hour of 
deepest sorrow the infinite tenderness of the 
Father's heart will be felt and known as not be- 
fore. It is really an opportunity to know God. 

It would seem also that a new estimate of 
the value and preciousness of faith must come 
home to the life enshrouded in darkness. In my 
own experience it was a time when faith made 
real the cherished hopes of a Christian's heart. 
Faith "actualized'' what hope had "visualized". 
It was an hour when faith substantiated the un- 
seen verities of hope. I then learned how faith 
lifts up the life to the heights and gives vision to 
tear-stained eyes, how faith lifts up above the 
clouds and permits us to behold the real things, 
even the sure comforts of God. Then did I 
learn that of all things faith is fundamental, faith 
is worth while. 

The words of Peter beat with a new mean- 
ing, as he speaks of being "put to grief in mani- 
fold trials, that the proof of your faith, being 
more precious than gold that perisheth though it 



16 LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS 

is proved by fire, might be found unto praise and 
glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 

Under the shadow of a whelming sorrow 
faith is changed. It cannot remain neutral while 
the heart bleeds. Either it must, recovering from 
the shock, quicken and strengthen, or weaken 
and die. In this hour we may well ask the 
Master to do for us what He did for Peter in 
the day of his great trial. You recall the as- 
suring words of Jesus, "But Peter I have prayed 
for thee that thy faith fail not." 

I discovered that a great sorrow is, in itself, 
an evil. It is a curse save as our Heavenly 
Father turns it into a blessing. That our God 
can and will turn the evil of our sorrow and suf- 
fering into a blessing, if only we permit Him, is 
a lesson that can be learned alone in the valley. 
There is no good in the pruning unless the tree 
bears a larger and sweeter fruitage. The cruci- 
ble finds its reason in the purifying of the metal, 
in bringing it into its highest possible usefulness. 
In passing through the valley the suffering is 
so bitter as to have no savor unless it becomes 



OF THE VALLEY 1 7 

God's opportunity to clarify vision, to enrich 
faith, to assure hope and to make heaven more 
real. Such an hour is God's opportunity, and 
one will readily learn how graciously the Father 
uses it when the stricken soul casts itself upon 
Him, praying that He shall in some way do 
what seems impossible. We can only look to 
Him as a Friend and Comforter, for death, the 
enemy, has laid us in the dust. 

In the first hours in sorrow's valley one sees 
only evil, darkness, despair. The sun has 
ceased to give his light; the Lord has stopped his 
ears unto our cry, the light of our life has gone 
out. Thus it seems, and with much reason. 
And thus it must ever be were it not that our 
Father in heaven speaks to us. Only as He, 
with gentle touch and loving wisdom, begins to 
fashion light out of darkness, hope out of despair, 
strength out of weakness, and gives to us revela- 
tions of Himself and assurances of our Heavenly 
Home, do we learn this lesson. And oh what 
a comfort is here. Just to know that God has 
not forgotten, that He does not regard our surfer- 



18 LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS 

ing with indifference, that with swiftness He 
comes alongside to help. God will turn the 
valley of our sorrow into the Gerizim of blessing. 
Among the most needful lessons learned in 
this deepest experience of my life was this, we 
cannot weep with others until first we have wept 
alone. We may have thought differently. We 
may have thought we entered into the afflictions 
of others. But in the hour of our midnight dark- 
ness we learn that we have only wept FOR our 
sorrowing friends. We have not wept WITH 
them because we could not. We have been 
willing, but now we learn that willingness does 
not determine ability. Never before did I real- 
ize the meaning of those descriptive words about 
my Savior, "He was a man of sorrows, and 
acquainted with grief". As not before I knew 
Him to be a "Great High Priest, touched with 
the feeling of my infirmities". Thus are we en- 
abled the better to go forth to comfort others 
with the comfort wherewith we ourselves are 
comforted of God. The price paid for the les- 
son learned is greater than we would choose, 



OF THE VALLEY 19 

but we must feel and find ourselves prepared and 
sent forth unto a truer ministry. Yes, the price 
paid is terrible, but I am comforted in the 
thought that my Heavenly Father knows all this, 
even the agony and the bleeding, and I rejoice 
in being permitted to look to Him to fashion my 
life into a more helpful ministry, wherein I may 
bind up the broken-hearted with hands of ten- 
derest love. 

I may say advisedly that the one thing 
which loomed largest in the meditation of those 
hours was the eternal WHY. I presume that 
this experience is universal. There is never a 
time when we want to know so much and seem 
to know so little. And it is the time when we 
leam we must walk by faith, not by sight. We 
learn the lesson, and none is more valuable to the 
Christian, that such knowledge as we crave, if it 
comes to us, must be the fruit of faith. Faith is 
the heart with which we feel, the eyes with 
which we see, the ears with which we hear, the 
feet with which we walk. Faith alone can help 
us to approach the eternal WHY. 



20 LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS 

But we do not find an immediate answer to 
our query. We may never find a satisfying 
answer during the pilgrimage here. And yet the 
thought looms larger and larger, and brings in- 
creasing comfort, that in heaven the Father will 
answer this eternal question, and that in his 
answer we will find the love and wisdom of our 
God resting behind the permission of our sorrow. 
This comforting assurance did come to my own 
life, and faith was the door through which it en- 
tered. Let us not mistake in this matter. See- 
ing will not bring this comfort, nor mourning, nor 
rebellion, nor reason, but faith ; and faith WILL 
bring it and help wonderfully to answer the 
eternal WHY which presses so hard in the 
valley of sorrow. Let us remember that our 
Lord is ever greater than any interrogation point 
that may arise in our path. 

A last lesson to be noted relates itself to 
the one just mentioned. Although the eternal 
WHY looms large in the valley of our affliction, 
and we crave above all things its answer, never- 
theless we come to thank God for the wisdom 



OF THE VALLEY 21 

and providence which hide from us what a day 
may bring forth. Often the soul cries out, "If 
only I had known " ! And it would seem well, 
even best, if at times we could see ahead. Our 
conduct might be altered, as our thinking and 
our plans. But the omniscience which would 
reveal to us the things of tomorrow is the omnis- 
cience which would lay at the very threshold of 
life every experience and sorrow of all the pass- 
ing years. And who of us could endure this 
burden ? Such a burden of omniscience imposed 
upon man would make suicides of the human 
race. As never before did I realize that "suffi- 
cient unto the day is the evil thereof". I came 
to thank my Heavenly Father with true gratitude 
that He permits us to live a day at a time, and 
with the day assures us with the promise "as thy 
day is, so shall thy strength be". No, we can- 
not afford to ask God to reveal to us the future. 
We may better pray that He give us grace ac- 
cording to the need of the future, and this He 
has promised to do. 

Cardinal Newman must have had a like 



22 LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS 



vision when he gave to the Christian world those 
beautiful lines, 

"Lead kindly Light ! amid the encircling gloom. 

Lead thou me on. 
The night is dark, and I am far from home. 

Lead thou me on. 
Keep thou my feet, I do not ask to see 
The distant scene, one step enough for me." 

It is quite true that had I known my little 
daughter was to be taken away from us just 
when she was, and in a day as it were, I would 
not have been absent from her for the two 
months immediately preceding. But had I known 
this two months in advance I must have known 
it also for the more than five years of her beau- 
tiful life with us, — and what parent could have en- 
dured such fore-knowledge ? Beloved in sorrow, 
God has manifested a gracious providence toward 
us in that He has broken our years into days 
and asked us to live a day at a time, granting a 
fresh supply of grace for each succeeding day. 

In closing these lines I beg indulgence for a 
word aside. In the day when our path leads 



OF THE VALLEY 23 

through the valley of the shadows we must not chas- 
tise ourselves if we find the spirit of resignation 
coming slowly. We cannot secure our adjustment 
in a day. We may be willing in spirit, and yet 
our human resignation can come only through 
pain and labor. The flesh is always weak in 
the great emergencies. Time is required. Our 
hearts are so constituted that they must bleed 
when broken, and the binding up and healing 
requires time. Although we have given our- 
selves completely into the hands of the Great 
Physician we cannot be healed in a day. Do 
not chastise yourself or doubt your faith, I urge, 
if you recover slowly from the awful shock. 
The patience of faith must have its perfect work. 
How well the Master must understand and ap- 
preciate this ! Jesus knows how much time is 
required for each one, and He will be patient 
and loving through all the days. 



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